It was reported, that Makalu was ascended on April, 24rd by Iranian climber Azim Gheichisaz (his 11th 8000er), Nepalese Sherpa climber Lhakpa Dendi (his third time on Makalu), Chinese climber Yang Chun-Feng (also his 11th 8000er) and probably by another Chinese climber Liu Xiang-Yang (he was at about 8500 m on Everest last year). The latter sadly died by a fall on descent. Our condolences go to his family and friends.

There were 121 ascents on Everest done by South Korean climbers, but no ascent was achieved without supplemental oxygen.

Now Kim Chang-Ho, who already has climbed the other 13 8000ers without supplemental oxygen, will attempt to be the first South Korean climber, who ascends Everest without it as well. If he succeeds, he will be the first Korean with all 14 8000ers without bottled gas and he will finish for South Korea as the 20th country so far.

If he succeeds in May he would also be the fastest climber with all 14 8000ers with 7 years and about 10 months. Here you can check the table for comparison.

Another interesting 2012 fact is, that on May 19th at least 238 ascents (171 from the South and 67 from the North) were achieved on Everest.

Also China finally finished the 14 8000ers with Broad Peak. Earlier other Chinese/Tibetan climbers just stopped at the Rocky Foresummit.

Tatsuo Matsumoto is now the oldest climber, who summited Manaslu with 72 years and 263 days and Tamae Watanabe the oldest woman on Everest with 73 years and 180 days.

Brazilian born (with Portuguese and German parents) American lady climber Cleo Weidlich was the first woman who summited Annapurna I and Dhaulagiri I in the same season after 12 men.

All tables on all 8000ers are finally updated now but they will not be posted for several important reasons. If somebody is interested, please send an email with either a landline telephone number or a Skype identity and we will contact you.

Seven Second Summits Major Update

Sunday, 07 April 2013 15:02

It seemed to be confirmed, that Puncak Mandala is the second highest mountain in New Guinea, but a new private GPS survey had a different result.

The Australian survey map with the results from 1973 marked Ngga Pulu as 4862 m and Sumantri as only 4810 m. SRTM was not helpful in this case and so it was thought to be unlikely that within the Carstensz massif there is a second independent mountain. Ngga Pulu shrank because its ice cap was melting, but Sumantri did not and is nowadays about 25 to 30 meters higher than Ngga Pulu. It appeared that the surveyed height of Sumantri from 1973 was completely wrong.

The recently measured difference between Sumantri and the connecting col to the Carstensz Pyramid is large enough to recognize Sumantri as independent mountain and therefore as the second highest mountain in New Guinea.